Page 2272 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 28 August 2007
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Increased spending by the commonwealth government in the ACT, largely in the form of expansion of the size of the public service has, as we all know, led to demand for more high-quality office space, resulting in an unprecedented growth in non-dwelling construction activity. The volume of new non-dwelling construction activity experienced in 2006 exceeded even that reported during the period of construction of the new Parliament House in the late 1980s. That is a very significant fact: we have over this past year exceeded the peak year of construction activity in the ACT—I think 1986. Every figure in the ACT, every achievement, shows that this government, this Labor government, has provided a stable, investor-friendly economic environment.
When we came to power in October 2001, annual spending under the Liberals on non-dwelling construction in the territory was $252 million. Annual spending to March 2007 was over $1 billion, and taking into account that unique year when we hit $1.7 billion but reducing it back to an average of $1 billion, there has been under this government an increase of 300 per cent in non-dwelling construction in the territory—against non-dwelling construction of 75 per cent nationally and 50 per cent in New South Wales.
Similarly, the ACT labour market exemplifies the prosperity of the ACT economy and, of course, the role which this government plays in providing a conducive economy and a place to work and to do business. You cannot say that is not the responsibility of this particular government or that there is no aspect of the environment within the ACT in relation to which this government cannot claim credit and we do. Just look at the numbers between 1995 and 2001 and the numbers between 2001 and 2007. The contrast is remarkable. Current trend unemployment is the lowest ever at three per cent, well below the national unemployment rate and, of course, much lower than New South Wales. Strong demand is also having a very positive effect on employment growth. In July annual employment growth was 3.8 per cent, the highest year-on-year employment growth since 2001. Under this government, under this Labor government, employment in the ACT has risen from 170,500 when we came to power in October 2001 to 188,000 in 2007, an increase of 17,500 jobs, or 10.3 per cent. Indeed, ACT jobs growth has largely been driven by full-time jobs.
That is a brief outline of the ACT economy and of the environment which this particular government has produced over the past six years. It is particularly instructive to look at the performance of the ACT economy in the first five years of the Howard government and to look at it in the last five years of the Howard government. The difference is incredibly stark—amazingly so.
To rebut the suggestion that this government has done nothing for business, one just has to look at each of those economic indicators—that the environment has been provided, that business flourished, that levels of confidence are higher. One of my great honours as Chief Minister is that every three months I share a platform with Chris Peters of the chamber of commerce to release quarterly surveys of confidence in business expectation. It is interesting and illustrative to talk to Mr Peters about the increasing levels of confidence within the ACT economy, the increasing levels of profit, the increasing levels of employment, and the growing confidence of the
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